Revelation

 Welcome to The Spot Writers. The prompt for this month is to continue with last month’s prompt (a story told through a camera, any type of camera in any circumstance). This next story will be what happens AFTER what is told through the camera.

This time, it’s Cathy MacKenzie’s turn. Her writings have been published in almost 400 print and online publications. Check out her website (www.writingwicket.wordpress.com) for further information on her works.

This is a continuation of her previous Spot Writers story.

 

Revelation

by Cathy MacKenzie

 

Jimmy couldn’t keep secrets for long. He just had to tell his father about the mermaid. But he’d had to wait for the right opportunity, when his father was in a good mood and his mother wasn’t around.

Tonight was it! His mother had her book club meeting and would be gone at least two hours.

His father was hunched over the kitchen table, his reading glasses perched on the end of his nose as he scrolled through his tablet.

Jimmy sat across from him, still wearing his heavy winter parka. His dad was Sir El Cheapo when it came to the thermostat.

“Dad?”

“Mmm?”

“I saw something on my way to school last week. Over on Lincoln Street.”

“Yeah? You did? Traffic’s a mess over there. Construction crew leave a hole in the road again?”

“No,” Jimmy said, leaning forward. “A mermaid, Dad. I saw a mermaid in a snowbank.”

Bob’s thumb paused on the screen. Seconds later, he let out a snort. “A mermaid. On Lincoln? Must have been a store mannequin, Jimmy. Or a discarded Christmas display.”

What! Jimmy thought. What was his father insinuating? A mermaid could be found in any snowbank, just not on Lincoln?

“It wasn’t a Christmas decoration. Nor was it a mannequin. It was alive.”

His father still didn’t move, his eyes glued to the screen. Jimmy had caught a glimpse of the screen. His father was checking his stocks. Had he made a ton of dough? Jimmy knew a bit about the stock market.

He waited for a reply that never came and then had to break the silence.

“She was stuck in the snow. It was a huge bank. Her tail was a deep, gorgeous green. With other colours too. It kinda flopped around, like a whale or something.”

His father finally set the tablet down and rubbed his eyes. “Jimmy, we live in the middle of a concrete grid. The closest thing to a mermaid around here is the frozen slush at the bottom of the harbour. Your mind is just trying to fill in the blanks because the city’s so grey this time of year.”

“You didn’t think it was grey last August,” Jimmy said.

His father went still.

Aha, gotcha! Jimmy thought.

Bob reached for his mug, but his hand hovered over the handle for a second too long before gripping it.

“The night we walked home from the pier,” Jimmy continued. “Remember? Near the shipping containers? You stopped dead in your tracks and stared into that narrow gap between the concrete and the water. You didn’t move for three minutes. You didn’t even blink.”

“I thought I saw a seal,” Bob said, his voice flat. “It happens. They wander into the basin sometimes.”

“Seals don’t have fingers, Dad. And they don’t hum. I heard it too, just for a second. It sounded like... Like a radio station from somewhere far away. Like static.”

Bob looked away, staring at the reflection of the kitchen lights in the window. “Lincoln is a busy street,” he finally said, his voice dropping to a near-whisper. “People don’t look at snowbanks there. They look at their feet or their phones.”

“I looked,” Jimmy said.

Bob turned back to his son. “But you’re a weird kid!” He laughed.

“But I saw the same mermaid last summer when we were at that cottage.”

“You did?”

“Yes, but I never told anyone.”

Suddenly, his father was interested. “Did she recognize you?”

It was Jimmy’s turn to gaze into the distance. “Funnily, I don’t think so. And I forgot to ask. We had a long conversation, though.”

His father laughed. “Best to keep those things to yourself.” He picked up his tablet again but didn’t scroll.

Jimmy waited for something—anything—to happen. He had an inkling his father was going to speak again.

“Was she... Did she look okay?” he finally asked.

“I think she just wanted to be back in the water, where she belonged. Mermaids aren’t supposed to be in snowbanks, you know.”

His father coughed. “Good. Let’s hope it’s an early spring.”

“I think she’s probably gone by now, Dad. It’s been a week. I think we’d know by now if someone else saw her. Wouldn’t that be on the news?” Jimmy wondered why he hadn’t gone back to check.

“Hmm, I suppose so, Jimmy. But, still, let’s keep this to ourselves, okay? I don’t think your mother needs to hear this.”

Jimmy was hesitant. He wasn’t good with secrets. And now he had to keep the same one again? He feared it would burn and burn within him until he blurted it out loud.

 

***

 

The Spot Writers:

Val Muller: http://www.valmuller.com/blog/
Catherine A. MacKenzie: https://writingwicket.wordpress.com
Phil Yeats: https://alankemisterauthor.wordpress.com
Chiara De Giorgi: https://chiaradegiorgi.blogspot.com/